


Deliver Me In A Black-Winged Bird.

by Lanna Michaels (lannamichaels)



Category: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke
Genre: Future Fic, Magic, Modern Setting, Trope Bingo: Round Four, english magic, modern with magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-16
Updated: 2015-05-16
Packaged: 2018-03-30 21:59:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3953335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lannamichaels/pseuds/Lanna%20Michaels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>William of Lanchester returns to England.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Deliver Me In A Black-Winged Bird.

**Author's Note:**

> Finished before the BBC series debuts! \o/ The title is from Rain King by Counting Crows. Once again, I'm interpreting my Trope Bingo curtainfic square very liberally as meaning a fic involving actual curtains and/or interior decorating.

1.

All ruined buildings belong to the Raven King. As the King's old chancellor, William has a traditional right to them second only to John Uskglass himself.

This house became a ruin only recently, and there is a magic in these ruined stones that William can taste on the back of his fingertips as he runs his fingers across them. John will know where he is, of course. John always does. But John is giving him... privacy. Yes, let's call it privacy.

The old house is cold, but William whistles a tune of summer and the heat immediately kicks in with a loud clamor. William thanks the walls and inner workings of the house for remembering their purposes, and then settles down on a conjured chair to contemplate his surroundings. His last house in England vanished when William had followed the Raven King, and it had not returned with him. If William is to live here, there is much to do.

He'll start with the windows.

William speaks to the broken glass on the floor and it forms again, smoothing over all but two of the cracks. It is dangerous to have a pure mirror in the house, and doubly dangerous to have a true window. If William wishes to see the out-of-doors as it is, it is best if he goes outside to do it.

There is writing on the walls when he turns around, a message from Faerie, and William cannot neglect his work. The dust mites are agreeable and take messages for him, and that night, William stretches out on the worn-through mattress and counts the stars through the ruined ceiling until he sleeps.

In the morning, the responses are written on beams of light and William smiles.

 

2.

When the Raven King returned to England, William did not come with him.

William has followed the King ever since William first arrived in Newcastle to study magic. He has served in all of the King's wars but the first. When it was time to ride to defend Agrace from Lucifer's incursions, William had gladly followed the King and had not looked back. He had not known that would be the last time he would stand on English soil for five hundred years, but had he known, he would have done nothing differently.

The King has returned many times to England since then and always had a chaos of ravens informing him of the goings-on. When he had been informed that magic had faded enough that most could no longer practice it, he had set in motion the events to cause its return. And return it had, and the King with it.

And William had stayed in Faerie.

 

3.

When John Uskglass was twelve years old, Oberon gave him the kingdom of Raven's Flight, and John took his name and his banner from it. When William was thirty-nine years old, the King ventured into the wilds of Agrace to learn its deep magic, and William ruled in England in all but name for a year and a day. After that, the King devoted himself increasingly to the study of magic, and William's arms became an oath. The King's subjects swore not by the King's raven alone, but by the King's raven and William's law.

It is perhaps less than subtle, then, to embroider his curtains with the Bird And Book, but it is William's arms and he'll be damned if he changes them now. It is an advertisement and a declaration. Part of him feels like it may be an apology.

He did not miss England when he was gone. Now that he is here, he is ashamed. Faerie is wild and Agrace is unfathomable. England is _home_. The King's magic permeates the air. The wind and the rivers and the very dirt itself all sing to him, all welcome him home. Lanchester is very different now and William is a stranger here, but he is a welcome stranger, and he is glad to be able to learn his land once more.

So William hangs his banner on his windows and he waits.

He is not disappointed.

 

4.

The magicians of this age are a strange breed. Some of them rival the magicians of William's day, while others do not acknowledge that magic is alive. They have broken themselves into factions, but while Strangite and Norrellite are types of magicians, a Johannite is someone who refuses to keep up with progress. They assure William that is not meant to be a slight against the King, but William is not shocked. Even in his day, the King's subjects feared him, but in their own way. Oh, they are proud of their magician king and give him his due, but they were human. William has spent the last five hundred years amongst Faeries and in the chaos of Agace; it takes some time to acclimate. William had been concerned that the Raven King's subjects would be more loyal to him in his absence than in his return, but their respect for him remains. William is sure that John complains about them just as much as he used to, but would never change them. 

The magicians are wary of William, for good reason, and William is confused and intrigued and fascinated by them. For these magicians, it was all too recently that the world did not hold magic. For these magicians, there were hundreds of years when magic could not be done. These magicians do every spell as a dare. They are laughing at the world. They are reveling in their existence. They are children.

William teaches them magic and they return the favor. For the first time, William feels like there is something new in the world.

 

5.

The Raven King is bent over and rummaging through his kitchen drawers when William returns from a meeting of Petty Dragownes of London. The King's clothes are black rags and his hair is loose; this could be any time in their acquaintance.

"I greet thee, Lord, and bid thee welcome to my heart," William says dryly. He places his packages on the counter and starts sorting the apples.

"William, you cannot live like this," the King declares, slamming the drawer for emphasis. "I forbid it. I do not allow this in my chancel-- in my allies. I shall send you three servants at once to put this to right."

"As the King desires," William responds. He finishes with the apples and assesses his King. John looks dreadful, but, well, he often does. John grew up in Faerie, where you look like how you present yourself. He'd never learned to take care of his physical clothing. In his early years, it didn't matter; in his later years, someone would remind him. When he didn't have an English valet around, he reverted to type, and in Faerie, well, the fairies never saw anything wrong with it. Once they left England, John hadn't bothered much.

"Stop ignoring me," the King says. He stands to his full height, but he is still shorter than William. "You've raised your banner, what, are you standing against me now? Even you, William?"

"Perish the thought," William says. "I was merely announcing my new address."

John growls and gestures around the room. Everything gains a shine it didn't have even when new. This house was already only barely holding on to being a ruin. William has been slowly reclaiming it from the Raven King. It seems the King is giving it to him as a gift instead. "You _will_ not live like this," the King commands. "What are you, William?"

"I'm the King's man," William says simply. He folds his arms. "Why are you here, Lord? You told me not to return to court. I have not. You do not require my services anymore. You have not received them. You can have no complaint as to my behavior."

"No complaint!" John cries. "I gave you your own kingdom. I gave you subjects, I gave you servants, I gave you everything. And what have you done with my gift?"

 

6.

What William has done is: allowed fairies to be fairies, and let nature take its course.

 

7.

John has spent his life studying magic, but while William is an excellent magician, his life has been devoted to statecraft, not magic. He has ruled in the Raven King's name, but never in his own. He had not asked for John's gift, but he also would not refuse it. After seven hundred years with John, William couldn't deny that he was curious.

It had taken William no time at all to discover the reason the King often tired of his duties and passed them along to someone else. William lacked a trusted second and, rather than train one up, he decided to step away. The fairies sorted it out amongst themselves quickly enough. 

William has handed his kingdom over to his new second and vanished into England to study magic. 

It's funny. It's always the other way around.

 

8.

The first time the Raven King had left his kingdom in William's hands, it was quite by accident. The King had not intended to be gone for so long, but time passes differently deep in magical practice than it does in the human world. He trusted that his servants could handle the situation, and they had. William remembers how calm Thomas had been amongst the initial hubbub. It was not unknown in Faerie for this to happen. It was a thing their kings did. They abandoned their kingdoms with no warnings, they lived on their whims, and god help you if someone had taken over the kingdom in their absence, for their revenge would be bloody, swift, and final. Thomas told them all to wait. The King would return. They would know if he died. They could do nothing but wait, and William did all that he could to safeguard the kingdom in the King's absence.

After that first time, the King informed William of his journeys and formally left him in charge, but his absences grew longer and longer. In time, the King had left William in charge of all three of his kingdoms.

William should have expected that John would eventually give William one of his own. It was how things were done in Faerie. If you were smart, you gave a competent second their own kingdom before they figured out how to steal yours. Stupid fairies died brutally. John was never stupid. He is the finest magician and the finest king England has ever known. William should have expected this to happen.

"I'm taking a year and a day to study magic," William says. "Your new students have much to teach me."

John looks proud, before he remembers that he is very mad at William, and then he looks angry again. "And you seek to steal them from me."

"Only two or three," William says. "And I am hardly stealing. I have invited them to take up residence in my kingdom when they have finished their service with you."

 

9.

The last thing the Raven King had said to William was, "you shall be a good king." It was a command.

William is simply seeing to the safety and security of his kingdom, just as John had.

 

10.

John leaves in a sulky flutter of birds and William sits down at the table. The mess of feathers vanish with a glance and William polishes an apple against his arm. He bites down. Something tickles at his mouth and he spits onto the table.

The seeds spell out well-wishes in the King's Letters; John having the last word. And William smiles.


End file.
